Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-03-05
Written for THE EVENING STAR
THE LAST BUFFALO HUNT
FAREWELL TO THE GREAT AMER
ICAN BISON.
The End OF n bloody and Relentless
PexsecatiOn-A Search for Specimens.
BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY,
Author of 'sTwo Years in the Jungle"
Copyright, 1887.

Were tt at all to my credit / could even boast OF
having Just. killed greater number in proportion
TO the whole number now alive than any other
man In this country except Jim McNaney. Be
tween my three cowboys and / we killed
about one-tenth OF all the buffalo In the United
States outside OF protected limits. But blush to
own II, and hadi not been TO save to science and
the public their skins and skeletons from total
loss at the hands OF reckless carefOr naught cow
boys, who now kill for the empty honor OF
slaughter those buffalo OF ours would now be alive
Of not frozen TO death ., and facing the Montana
blizards. And yet, since the cowboys are kllnng
them as fast as they can, regardless OF the die
tates Of sense and humanity, and leaving them 10
decay where they fall, was 1t not our sworn duty
to step in ahead OF them and save something from
the wreck. IL certainly was; therefore, curse
me no curses for what we did Bad luck TO the
rifles that have swept the buffalo away. May the
dreams of the buffalo slayers be haunted as mine
are now by buffalo. / snail never get over the
death OF my last one To me he was the last OF
his race and he seemed TO feel IL as much as But
would XIII him on the next roundup, and leave
him to rot where he fell, i swear l would gladly
have let him go inpeace, and with my blessing,
too But Il was 10 time for sentiment. The Phil
fstineS were upon him, and 10 save him from total
humiliation, 10 make him live again and stand
Forever In all his magnihcence In the mammal
hall CT the National Museum, slew him.
You see, with Us at the Smithsonian, 1t was
what a cowboy would call "a grounding case;
'em," before they were all gone. As one OF my
churns remarked it 1.-The most perfunctory
buffalo hunt on record The buffalo were going,
we awOke one fine morning TO realization OF The
fact that We were caught short on buffalo, and
there were none In the market We hadn't series
OF specimens, even good ones OF any Kind
whereas it was oUr duty 10 have the finest series
In the world Gould we expect that the American
people would be satisfied with anything short of
the best in their National Museum? By no means.
When We thought OF how we would be blessed %
now to secure fine series OF specl-
mems, e. z. the editorial "we'0
actually trembled in our boots The tlouble.was
we had lately been deeply interested in mount
ing foreign mammals that we had failed 10 watch
the disappearance OF the bison, and we had been
thinking all along that whenever We wanted
fine lot OF buffalo we could get them Judge, then
OF our surprise, and even CONSERVATION, when my
numerous letters OF inquiry ALL save one ELECTED
cannot tell you where you can find any,"
But Professor Baird was equal to this emergency,
buffalo and secure q series OF specimens for the
National Museum at all hazards" Although the
little hope OF finding buffalo before their shedding
should have begun, the difficulty OF finding any at
all bid fair TO be so great 1t was decided that We
should start at once, and search for buffalo until
some were found even though IL took ali summer.
One of correspondents, DIR. j. c. Merrill, OF the
army. reported that there were rulnors OF the pres
and We decided that Miles City, Montana, was the
key TO the situation. Accompanied by my old
LItc0Q, George Ii. Mtuilld, anu MI. n. H.
Forney one Of my regular laboratory assistants
we left washington on May 1:}, 1856, on what was
II fact, as Wei as in name, Smithsonian eXpora-
uOn for buffalo As a parting Send-o1, Captain
,, lately returned from Montana, trfunphantly
offered to wager that we would not get more than
two buffalo, all told
i am sure no hunter ever started out with a
.onger face than did /, and the nearer got to
Montana the longer IL grew. When we reached
army officers and finally noted rur buyer that
here were positively mo buffalo in the country
anywhere, :" know it would have measured nearly
Iyard While m0Odily debating whether TO go up
% the Bear Paw mountains or the Panhandle OF
Texas prospecting. had the good luck TO meet
Mr.. Henry K Phillips, a ranchman from the Little
Dry, seventy miles northwest OF Miles City. Now,
had been advised that a ranchman Will never
sell a hunter OF the presence OF game near his
.anch, because he wants ii reserved and preserved
Dr his own rtiie. Mr. Phillips was rot that kind
Of a man He said in a very quiet, but very con-
Tnc1ng way:
.sThere are a few buffalo In the bad lands west
II my range, for one OF my cowboys killed COW
en- Sand creek on the 11th OF this month, and
about thirty-nye head have been seen In you go
up there and hunt them, and stick 10 il, you're
almost certain 10 get some in the end"
That was enough. The very next day we rolled
sut across the Yellowstone. bound for the country
at the head OF the Little Dry. The weather was
then hot and water was very scarce, but the grass
what was supposed to be the buffalo country.
Three days after reaching our hunting ground
we caught a buffalo calf In the bad lands
aisce, and within two miles of our camp. 1t
was about two weeks old. but by hard travelling
II had become so weak IL could not keep I'D with It's
mother, and she coolly abandoned IT. We carried
It 10 camp across a horse, hurried 1t on to the
ranch where there was a mich cow and event.
ually got 1t TO the Smithsonian In fine condition
We hunted diligently for three weeks, and finally
got two solitary old bull buffalo. One had shed
half his winter coat, and the other all OF this
body being quite bare. We took their heads and
skeletons, and being well satisfied that there were
more buffalo In that country, fastened back to
Washington with all speed, saying little as pos
s1ble about OR find. planned to return in the
fall and collect at least twenty specimens.
1t Is a sad thing TO say, but the great American
bison Is Practically gone forever. The Pacific rail-
road, the SharpS rifle and mans Unsuitable de-
structiveness have done their work. and the
nobiest rumnanJ OF them AL has gone down be-
fore them. The leaden hail OF the breech-lOader
has swept the millions OF buffalo from the face Of
the earth before a single strong hand has been
raised TO stop the merciiess slaughter. To look
back upon the buffalo they Were a few wears
ago only adds 10 regret for their fate: but it
may serve To point moral very strongly in the
direction OF our few remaining elk, deer antelope
and mountain sheep. Here, then, is the history
IN brief OF the determination OF our grandest and
most valuable American mammal:
Twenty years ago buffalo swarmed In countless
thousands over the whole Of the great pasture
region OF the weSt-frOm the Sask tchawan tn
Southern Texas. and eastward from the Rocky
mountains TO the borders OF civilization. Their
number was estimated yariouSy at from six TO
ten millions, and later figures have proven that
the former was by no means above the actual fact
Within the memory OF man or the limits OF his
tory, so far as know, no other species OF quad
ruped has existed on the earth in such mighty
II
ago Often and often have plainSmen said TO me-
In speaking OF former times, 1.-The whole country
was literally tttck usth b,lfGIo as far the eye
could Seei Every hill was covered and every hollow
was full" There were thousands of square miles
OF them, and when big herd was encountered
travelling IL seemed actually inJerminable One
that knew OF WAS i've hours in passing given
point In Solid column, ten 10 twenty abreast ION
dead run" Trains on the first railways built
across the plains were sometimes stopped for hours
al a time by thousands or buffalo Swarming on the
track, and travellers have gone over a hundred and
twenty miles OF territory through an almost I'm
broken nerd In ali that We have read OF the mar
Vicious abundance of wild animals on the plains OF
south Central Africa, even the most EXAGGERATED
accounts tail lar below what We actually know
OF the presence or the buffalo In the United
states
When the men OF the west saw the level plafns
OF Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and the Indian terri
tory and The rolling uplandS OF Dakota Colorado
wyoming and Montana actually swarinfnV with
buffalo, they said: 'Ihere VIII ALWAYS ne
plenty OF buffalo; ;, it is impossible to
went, first In the blind fury OF wanton dest rI,c
uveness, bat later in the more eneryefie. and
deadly warfare of killing FOR money No one
thought OF protecting The buffalo and had anv
one spoken OF IL he would have been called ..a
crank" But see what the deadly breecu-loader
accomplished III eleven short years.
The building OF the Union Pacific railroad from,
Omaha 10 Cheyenne in 1867 cut through me
very center OF the great buffalo range ana from
shipment the buffalo hunters scattered north an
south, killing great numbers Thus was tine grpat
herd cut IN twain, never 10 be reunited (say. In
DEATH, and The TWO portions were from that time
known respectively as the northern and southern
herds The staked plain OF Texas was the geo